Hong Kong's Triple Medal Haul

Cheung is the third man to win gold in men's foil back-to-back

It's only Day 3 of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Hong Kong has done extremely well with two golds and one bronze already.

World number one fencer Vivian Kong Man-wai won the first gold on the first day of the Summer Games in the individual epee and those Hongkongers who stayed up in the wee hours to witness her victory were thrilled to bits.

"I'm really thankful, I'm really grateful," Kong, 30, said. "I'm just so lucky... in fencing anything can happen, and I love all the girls here, and I just can't believe it's me."

Fencer Kong celebrates her first gold in epee

Last time in 2021 during the Tokyo Games, Kong reached the quarterfinals, the first woman fencer from Hong Kong to do so.

This is her third Olympics and Kong beat a French competitor for gold.

"I lost a bit of focus [in the final] from the start and was distracted a bit thinking the home crowd would be really disappointed if I win," Kong said. "It's a dream for me to play at the Grand Palais and I am grateful for the presence of all the fans, even if they might not want me to win.

"There were no spectators in Tokyo after all, and I am touched when the volunteers, knowing that I am playing their home fencer, would still greet and cheer for me beforehand."

Today swimming sensation Siobhan Haughey also excited Hongkongers with a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle, with Australia taking gold and silver. This is Haughey's third Olympic medal, the first Hongkonger to have this many medals.

And she rallied her teammates to keep going.

Swimmer Haughey with her bronze medal today

"Hong Kong is doing really well at these Olympics and this is just the beginning," Haughey said. "We have a long Olympics journey and I am sure other Hong Kong athletes will do well. A lot of us are in top finals or around the top four fighting for medals. I hope we keep the momentum going."

Indeed soon after fencer Cheung Ka-long successfully defended his gold medal in Tokyo with another gold in men's foil. He is the third man to win back-to-back gold medals in men's foil, the last athlete to do this was in 1956.

Cheung says he won the medal for his dad, who was in the stands watching.

"I'm very happy that my dad came to see me and I could give him a birthday present -- his birthday is in July," he said. 

Klondike Prospectors Paved the Way for Tourists

There isn't normally this much snow on the mountains now

Our ship the Ruby Princess arrived in Skagway, Alaska this morning, but the captain announced at 7am that the ship could not dock -- the water was too shallow and added other ships would not budge either! There are at least three other cruise ships along the same route as us.

As a result, our ship had to stop away from the dock and set up tenders (small shuttle boats) to shore. This plan was scrambled very quickly and kudos to the staff for making it happen relatively fast.

Even the tour operators in Skagway were shocked to see the cruise ship floating around in the water -- our tour guide Paul said in the 18 years he was a tour guide here he had never seen it like that before... but apparently there is a 17-feet difference in the water levels here...

Pitchfork Falls on the left, next to a pipeline

As a result, our tour at 10.15am started a bit late because the previous tour at 8.30am was delayed by this change in logistics.

Nevertheless, Paul was fun and accommodating -- he can drive a bus of 21 tourists, drive and tell us about the history of the gold rush in Alaska in the 1890s! He even uses a drum stick to point to various areas on the map above him!

As we drove along the Klondike Highway, we had stunning views of the mountains that still had snow on them. Paul said usually at this time of year -- June -- just the caps of the mountains would have snow on them. But because this year was particularly cold, the snow was still around. Perhaps it's a good thing considering there isn't much snow in general on the mountains?

He explained in 1896 gold was discovered, but word didn't get out until a year later. People from all over went from Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria by ship to Alaska -- in some boats it was literally standing room only -- and it was an arduous trek with lots of provisions on their backs.

Stunning views and gorgeous weather to boot!

Horses were badly treated, overwhelmed by the weight of the stuff they had to carry and over treacherous terrain that some 3,000 of them died... is it any wonder one of the roads was nicknamed Dead Horse Trail?

Paul also reminded us in the Victorian era, these prospectors didn't have Gore-tex or North Face jackets -- they had wool and it was very heavy and would get wet easily. The women wore dresses. It's amazing they even survived.

But by the time these prospectors made it to Alaska and survived the frigid winters, there was hardly any gold left in 1898 and either called it quits or stayed anyway. 

Paul gave some shocking statistics:

- 100,000 went to Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria in the hopes of getting to Alaska;

- 40,000 made it to Alaska

- 20,000 looked for gold

- 4,000 found gold

- 1,000 found enough gold to live on. One was John W Nordstrom, a Swedish immigrant who used the money he made from gold and set up a shoe store.

The highways we went on to see the magnificent sights were because of the gold rush, and now who benefits? Us tourists.

In 1972 the first ship brought some 200 tourists. Today it's 15,000 a year.

The season lasts from late April to October. On the last day of the cruise season, some of the locals will get together on the dock to give a send off to the last batch of tourists -- they moon them!

Apparently this is an annual tradition!

And one year, a group of tourists on a cruise ship mooned the locals back!